


The difference between hearing and listening.

by Qem



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: April Showers 2012, April Showers Challenge, Backstory, Other, set around Sesshoumaru's introduction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-22
Updated: 2012-04-22
Packaged: 2017-11-04 02:57:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/388915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qem/pseuds/Qem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when you can sense, but you can not understand?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The difference between hearing and listening.

When he was little Sesshoumaru had a nasty habit of listening to things he couldn't hear.

His mother saw this and she worried, for her son was precious and though he was already showing signs of being strong, but there were some things he was too young to handle.

His father saw this, and he was proud for such an ability was one of the first steps to greatness.

Well he was proud, after he clipped Sesshoumaru on the ear and told him that he was heir to a great dai inu-youkai legacy and should take advice but not orders and he was being advised right now to think very carefully about his actions in the future.

His father also made a mental note not to leave weapons of mass destruction on the mantel piece.

* * *

As he got older his hearing abilities improved but his ability to listen decreased.

His mother saw this and she was happy for he was strong and proud and would bring greatness to the clan.

His father saw this and he worried, for there are voices your better off hearing compared to others and it is only through listening that you can work out which ones are worth while.

* * *

When Sesshoumaru was not so little, he listened to his mothers anger and outrage about how his father was being a disgrace. He listened to demons far and wide mocking human weakness, concepts of love and how hanyou were an abomination.

He did not listen to the honest happiness that warmed his father's voice. He did not listen to the voices that echoed protect, protect, protect together in harmony.

He was however still listening to a purring seductive voice that told him that greatness would be his and that his time was coming.

His mother did not see this, but she was proud of how strong her son was becoming. But his father did and his father worried about a future where he would not be present.

* * *

When Sesshoumaru was getting quite big, he stopped listening to things he could hear and he stopped listening to things he could not hear. That just made the voices more persistent.

He heard a voice's horror as he ignored its wishes and bent it to his will. He all too soon heard its mocking laughter as it did what it will.

Sesshoumaru vowed revenge. As he carried his way through revenge, he prepared himself by upsetting the mocking voice's twin.

Yes. That was the sound he wanted to hear. The protestation, the whining, the begging for him to stop, it was such a delightful sound, and well worth putting up with any persistent whining that was a result of bringing it about.

As he made his way for revenge, and for the greatness that he was promised. Sesshoumaru heard quite a voices that opposed him. But he did not listen to their reasons of why.

The loudest and most persistent was the one that echoed protect, but Sesshoumaru pays even less attention to echoes than he does to voices.

Eventually his revenge is near, twin voices in synchronisation echoing their sentiments together.

They echo, "If you keep this up you are going to die. No seriously you are going to die. Get back!" But Sesshounmaru does not listen.

Then the wind shifts and he hears no more echoes but voices saying "This is what you get!" and "Oh you stupid, stupid pup, why don't you ever listen.", he wonders why he thought they sounded alike.

* * *

When Sesshoumaru wakes up he knows he's only alive because of a voice he did not listen to. He continue to ignores it, even as it beats warmly by his side.

* * *

He hears a twig snap and a small scrawny little girl turns up. She stares at him, and does not talk, but he listens to her anyway.

* * *

When she comes back with a mark on her face, the voice wonders loudly how such a thing might of come about.

So he asks on the voice behalf.

He has to bite down on a growl as the voice laughs at him and the little girl smiles ever so brightly.

* * *

Time comes and time goes. He gains another voice and listens to it bicker. Sometimes laughing happy voice, muffles it. Though this isn't necessarily a good thing since it usually means he gets treated to the "protect, protect, protect" echo again.

Sesshoumaru has gotten very good at ignoring voices. But sometimes he listens.

* * *

At little further down the track, Sesshoumaru hears a voice that he's never forgotten. A beautiful purring voice that sweetly promised him power. A voice whom he's always looked up to.

That voice isn't so sweet any more.

For the first time Sesshoumaru sees what the voice really had to offer.

He feels disgust, not because he thought the voice could control him, he still believes that could never happen no matter how young he was. But because the voice believed that it could trick him.

His dignity will not stand for that.

Still he suddenly feels a tiny bit grateful for voices that he can ignore.

* * *

As the voice, the purring seductive voice, falls down into its chasm, Sesshoumaru watches and listens.

He hears the voice promising that what just happened was a mistake, come with me, that it can make him whole and complete, come with me and that it will give him more power than he can imagine, come with me that even though its falling now, it will soon be back, just COME WITH ME!.

Sesshoumaru thinks, that he can imagine quite a bit, and walks off listening to a voice that likes to sing, a voice that likes to complain and a voice that likes to laugh.


End file.
